Method of making wire fabric



May 7, 1935. w E, REED METHOD OF MAKING WIRE FABRIC 9 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed April 12, 1935 y 1935- I W.,E. REED I 2,000,788

METHOD OF MAKING WIRE FABRIC Filed April l2, 1953 9 Sheets-Sheet 2 May7, 1935. w, E. REED 2,000,788

METHOD OF MAKING WIRE FABRIC Filed April 1 2, 1933 9 Sheets-Sheet 3 in IV INVENTOVR 4 May 7, 1935.

w. E. REED METHOD OF MAKING WIRE FABRIC Filed April 12, 1953 9Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR y 1935- I w. E. REED 2,000,788

I METHOD OF MAKING WIRE FABRIC 7 Filed April 12, 1955 9 Sheets-Sheet '5INVENTOR May 7, 1935. w. E. REED ,METHOD OF MAKING WIRE FABRIC v 4 FiledA ril'lz, 1953 9 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTORY May 7,1935. 7 w. E, REED"2,000,788

METHOD OF MAKING WIRE FABRIC Filed April 12, 1933. 9 sheets-sheet 7 May7, 193 5.

W. E. REED METHOD OF MAKING WIRE FABRIC Filed April 12, 1953 9Sheets-Sheet 8 w. E. REED Y METHQD OF MAKING WIRE FABRIC Filed April 12,1933 9 Sheets-Sheet 9 Patented May 7 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE2,000,788 METHOD OF MAKING WE FABRIC William Edgar Reed, Pittsburgh, Pa.Application All!!! 12, 1933,8611! No. 665,710

25 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in wire fabrics such as areemployed for fencing, concrete reinforcement, screens and othermesh-like structures, and to a method of making the same.

5 The present application constitutes in part a continuation of mycopending application, Serial No.

393,692, filed September 19, 1929 (now Patent No.

One object of my invention is to provide a method whereby a mesh may beformed of continuously extending sets of wires, with the wires of oneset positioned in such relation to the wires of the other set that thefabric thus produced will have desired differences in mesh spacing andrigidity as between various portions thereof.

A further object of my invention is'to provide a method whereby weldedwire fabric may be formed from continuous strands, without the necessityof cutting. fitting and welding separate short lengths of material.

Another object of myinvention is to provide a method of making weldedfabric which involves depositing and bending continuous wires inoverlapping relation, andwelding the same at their points of contactwith one another.

Some of the forms of fabric which may be manufactured in accordance withmy invention are shown in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 isa plan view of a machine for making fabric of continuous strands ofwire; Fig. 2 is an elevational sectional view of the apparatus of Fig.1; Fig. 3 is an end view of the structure of Figs.

1 and 2; Fig. 4 is a plan view, on an enlarged scale,

of a portion of the apparatus of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a view taken on theline V-V of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a view, on an enlarged scale, of a portionof the apparatus of Fig. 1; Fig. 7 is a view taken on the.

line VII-N11 of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 shows a modification of the structureofFigs. 1 to 7; Fig. 9 is a plan view showing still another modificationthereof; Fig. 10 is an'elevational sectional view of the structure ofFig. 9; Fig. 11 is a fragmentary plan view, on an enlarged scale, of aportion of the structure of Fig. 9; Fig. 12 is a sectional elevationalview of the structure of Fig. 11; Fig."13 is a view showingmeans forholding the wires in place at the edges of the conveyers of Figs. 1 to10; Pg. 14 is a plan view showing a modification 0 thereof; Fig. 15 is asectional view of the structure of Fig. 14; Fig. 16 showsin plan viewstill another form of machine for making welded fab-- ric of continuousstrands; Fig. 17 is a side elevational view of the structure of Fig. 16;Figs. 17a

and 17b are plan and cross sectional views, respectively, showing amodification of the apparatus of Figs. 1, 16 and 17, for forming thesmaller bends in the strands, and Figs. 18 to 35 show various forms offabric which may be formed upon the machines of Figs. 1 to 17.

Referring to Figs. 1 to .7, I show a machine for making diagonal meshwire of continuous strands of the form shown more clearly in Figs. 1 and4. The apparatus comprises a carrier or conveyer 20 that is composed ofa pair of chains 2| which carry anvil bars 22 which may serve aselectrode bars or be provided with electrode bars in a manner similar tothe conveyer of my Patent No. 1,581,868, issued April 20, 1926. Theconveyer is driven from an electric motor 23 that has driving connectionwith a shaft 24, which carries a pair of sprockets 25, the conveyer atits other end passing around idler sprockets 26.

Disposed above the carrier are a series of pairs of roller electrodes 21beneath which the wires are carried and which make contact with thewires at their points of intersection, the electric circuit beingcompleted at the instant that the wires are passing beneath the rollerelectrodes so that such wires will be welded at their points of contactwith one another.

This portion of my structure need not be described in detail, sincevarious forms of electrodes and current control devices therefor may beprovided as shown for example in my patent abovereferred to and in myPatent No. 1,694,081, of December 4, 1928, or welding electrodes similarto those of my Patent No. 1,554,030 of September 15, 1925, may beemployed.

The anvil bars 20 differ from the anvil bars of my patentsabove-referred to in that I make provision thereon for holdingtransversely or diagonally placed fabric wires in proper position forwelding, and so that their points of intersection will pass beneath theroller electrodes 21. The bars 29 are provided with bosses orupwardly-extending projections 29 which serve to definediagonally-extending groove-like spaces for the reception of wires 30,so that such wires will be supported in proper position upon the table.The projections also define groove-like spaces II which extendlongitudinally of the table. These grooves or positioning bossesmay, ofcourse, be arranged transversely of the table, for the forming ofcertain shapes of mesh, particularly if thetable or carrier is to bemoved intermittently instead of continuously. As shown more clearly inFig. 4, the wires 30 intersect at points within the spaces 2| so thatthey will be in proper position to be welded when pass beneath theroller elecv 23. The motor 23 through its pinion and gears 35 drives ashaft 31 that carries difierential units 38-3 9 that are normally idleupon the shaft 31, but which may selectively be brought into drivingengagement therewith by means of a sliding clutch 40. The gear wheels33-39 have driving connection with a gear wheel 4| which is secured to ashaft 42 that carries both pinions-- 43 thatmesh with rack bars 44 whichare connected to the feeder carriage 35.

I The clutch 40 is operated by means of a cam 45 gear connections 41. Itwill be seen that upon each revolution of the cam 45, the clutch 40 willbe shifted to make and break driving connection between the gear wheels33 and 33 successively, thus driving the-shaft 42 alternately inopposite directions to effect reciprocation of the rack bars 44 andhence of the carriage 35 back and forth across the carrier.

The feeding carriage 35 is composed of a framework wherein a series ofhollow vertical shafts 43 (Figs. 6 and 7) are journaled. The lower endsof these shafts carry guide rollers 49 and are yieldably held in contactwith the conveyer by means of compression springs 55.

The strand wires 35 are drawn from reels 5| (Fig. '3) and pass throughthe shafts. and extend beneath the rollers 48.- The shafts 48 areswivelled in the carriage 35 and since the rollers 43 are oifset fromthe axis of these shafts after the manner of casters, such rollers willfollow the direction of movement of the carriage 35.

' It will be seen that with wires threaded through all of the shafts 43.and extending "beneath the rollers 49, movement of the carriagetransversely of the table, with the table or carrier 20 advancing, theangle of movement as between the carriage and the traveling table willbe on diagonal lines and the relative rates of movement of the' tableand the carriage are such that the wires will be deposited between'thebosses 23 on diagonal lines.- The wire will be automatically drawn fromthe reelsthrough the shafts 48 by reason of the movements of thecarrier. and the carriage.

When the carriage 35 has reached its limit of movement at one edge ofthe table, the clutch 43 will be automatically shifted to move thecarriage in a reverse direction. At the reversal of movement, thestrands 35 will be drawn around the bosses 2311 near the edges of thetables, thus forming bends in the wires. It will be seen that on thereturn movement of the carriage 35, those portions of the strands 30which are placed upon the table during such return movement will bedeposited in overlapping relation to the wires which were deposited onthe tableduring the previous movement of the carriage. The wires thusdeposited on the table are held in place by means of rollers 54 (Fig.2), so that they will not become displaced previous to engagementthereof with the roller electrodes, or they may be held in place bymagnetic forces'in the manner shown in my Patent No. 1,694,081 ofDecember 4, 1928.

which is driven from'the shaft 24 through The mechanism just describedproduces a mamond or diagonal mesh wire as shown in Fig. 4, havingflexibility to permitnvenient stretching and installation thereof, sinceit will yield in longitudinal and transverse directions, asdistinguished from those wire structures wherein strand and stay membersextend in directions parallel to and transversely of the fabric struc-'a feeding mechanisms between the carriage 35 and the electrodes, butthese may be placed in advance of the carriage, if desired. Thesemechanisms may be of various known forms such as those shown in my twopatents above-referred to. The stay wires 55 are deposited in thegrooves 32 (Figs. 4 and 5) and the strand wires 55 are deposited in thegrooves 3 I, so that they will intersect with each other and with thestrand wires 35.

at those points where the wires 30 overlap as above-explained. The staywires 55 and the strand wires 55 can, of course, be welded to the strandwires 30 at points other than where said strand wires 30 intersect withone another. Therefore, the wires 30, 55 and 55 will be all weldedtogether at definite points and form a mesh similar to that of Fig. 20.It will be understood that if it is desired to have the completed meshreadily yieldable longitudinally but stiffened and strengthenedvertically, the strand wires 55 will be omitted, while if verticalelasticity and longitudinal rigidity are desired in the completed,fabric, the stay wires 55 will be omitted.

In Figs. 9 and 10, I show a structure wherein a diagonal mesh fabric maybe formed with much smaller mesh than is possible with the structure ofFigs. 1 and 2, since the clearance possible in structures of this kindimpose limitations in the way of size of mesh or spacing between thewires. Furthermore, this structure may be employed in making two sheetsof meshfabric on a single machine, each sheet having a meshcorresponding in size to that of Fig. 1. I

The carrier and the electrodes of this form of apparatus may be similarto the corresponding parts of Figs. 1 and 2, except that tworeciprocating carriages '30 and 5! are provided for placing the wiresupon the carrier. Each of these carriages may be 'of the same form asthe carriage 35 and reciprocated in 'a similar manner, by means ofmotors 62 and 53, respectively, which operate through suitable gearingand driving connections to reciprocate the carriages trans-' versely ofthe table in the manner more fully explained above. These carriages maybe reciprocated either synchronously or asynchronously.

The carrier of Figs. 9 and 10 is continuously driven and may be ofsubstantially the structure shown in Fig. 1,. except that the bars 54thereof which correspond to the bars 25 will have a greater number ofgrooves or bosses thereon for supporting the wire. the carriages 50 and5| will deposit upon the carrier a mesh similar to the mesh of Fig. 1.The

mesh 55 which is deposited by the carriage 3|- As above-explained, eachof rier with respect to the points 68 wherein wires of the mesh 65intersect with one another, while the mesh 66 and the mesh 65 will havecontact with one another as at points 69. If the welds are made only atpoints 61 and 68, two separate meshes will be formed, each havingsubstantially the appearance of Fig. 18, while if welds are made at thepoints 89, both the layers of fabric will be formed into a compositestructure producing a mesh such as shown in Fig. 19.

In the welding a fabric by the machines of either Figs. 1 to 9, certainintersections only need be welded as indicated at points I in Fig. 26.Fabric as in Figs. 9 and 26, welded only at points of intersection alongalternate longitudinal lines, may be stretched as shown in Fig. 2'7 togive it the appearance of double strand mesh. Formstance, if the fabricof Fig. 26 were one inch mesh it would be stretchedto substantially twoinch mesh with a double strand'efiect.

While the carriages of Figs. 9 and 10 may be of the same structure asthe carriage of Fig. 1, if heavy wire is to be used in forming thefabric, I may modify such carriages to include means for positivelybending the wires in making the bends at the edges of the carrier, suchmeans being shown more clearly in Figs. 11 and 12. As shown in Figs. 9,11 and 12, each carriage contains a bell crank I2 that is pivotallymounted thereon and which has connection with a rack bar 13 thatcooperates with toothed segments 14 to oscillate the shafts I5 throughwhich the wires are fed.

The shafts I5 each carry a roller Ii at its lower end which lowerrollers correspond to the rollers 49 of Fig. 6. The carriages BI areeach slidably supported at both ends by guide bars 11 and the outerextremities of the bell crank levers I2 engage stops I8 near each end ofthe guide bars 'I'I so that when the carriage approaches an extremity ofits path of movement, the bell cranks 12 will be rocked about theirpivots to turn the shafts 15 about their axes, so that the wires will bemore securely guided and drawn through their grooved paths at the edgesof the carriage. In Fig. 13, I show a means for more effectively holdingthe bent portions of the wire at the edges of the fabric in positionupon the carrier.

A portion of the framework 35a of the carriage 35 serves, at the end oftransverse movement of the carriage, to rock a spring-pressed arm 80about its pivot 8| and against the compression of a spring 82 to move aroller 83 which is carried by the arm 80 away from the edge of the guideblock 29a to permit the wire to be bent aroundsuch block or boss. At thebeginning of the return movement of the carriage, the arm 80 will bereleased by the frame member "a, permitting the spring to force theroller 83 into contact with the wire and the wire bend .thereby held insnug engagement with the boss 290.

In Figs. 14 and 15, I show a modification of the holding device of Fig.13. In this arrangement, each holding boss is shown as made in twopieces 29!: and 290, the portion 29c being undercut slightly as shown inFig. 15, for the reception of the edge bend of a wire 30 and beingpivoted at 84 to the carrier bar 20. The wire 30 is bent around theportion 29c in a manner similar to that shown at 29a in Fig. 4 and beingunder some tension is held in said undercut recess against accidentaldisplacement.

Either or both of the carriages 60 and GI may be reciprocated alonglines extending only partially the full width of the fabric beingproduced.

relation to the rotatlve movement For instance, the carriage 60 may bereciprocated entirely across the table and the carriage 6| onlypartially across the same, so that a fabric can be produced which in oneportion will have the comparatively wide mesh of Figs. 1 and 18, and inanother longitudinal portion thereof will be of closer mesh as in Fig.33, indicated somewhat diagrammatically by the strands I00 and I0] whichare welded together. Again, each carriage may be moved only to thelongitudinal center line of the carrier to lay two mats of wire whichmay be each welded as above set forth and which may be welded togetherat their inner edges.

If three depositing carriages are employed, one

of them may be reciprocated entirely across the carrier to lay thestrands I02 of Fig. 34, while two may be reciprocated in zones adjacentto the edges. ,o ft'he table to lay strands'I03 and I04 which are weldedto the strand I02, at points where they cross the strand I02.

The fabrics of Figs. 33 and 34 not only differ in their ornamentalappearance, but possess different physical properties. Thus if a fabricis formed wherein the closer mesh is required near the longitudinalmiddle line, the additional strands IOI can be embodied therein, whileifa fabric is desired that has greater strength and closer mesh at itsedges, the strands I03 and I04 will be applied to the strand I02.

The mesh .of Fig. 32 may be produced by laying the portions I05 of thestrands more rapidly relative to the movement of the table than theportion I06-of the strands are laid, the strands where they cross being,of course, welded together; This procedure produces a fabric whichoffers greater resistance to stretching or has less elasticity throughstresses imparted thereto in certain directions than in otherdirections.

Referring now to Figs. 16 and 1'7, I show a structure for making afabric of the types shown in Figs. 24 and 35. In this form of device, Ishow a welding apparatus 85 which may be of a form shown in my patentsabove-referred to. In this apparatus, I bend the strands 86 previous totheir entry upon the conveyer 81. The bars of the conveyer 81 may havediagonally-arranged slots or bosses of substantially the form shown inFigs. 1 to 4, to maintain the bent strands in proper welding positionupon the carrier. In this form of apparatus, the wire 08 and passes overa which is driven in any suitable manner. drum 89 contains rows of teeth90 that are arranged in rows longitudinally of the roller, and the wiresare fed between the roller 09 and a pressure roller 9 I.

A reciprocating bar 82 which is reciprocated longitudinally of theroller 89 and which has openings through which the wires 06 are threaded, is operated by suitable mechanism in timed of the roller 89, so thatas each row of pins comes into potoothed roller or drum 09 sitionopposite to the wires, the bars 92 will be.

shifted longitudinally of the roller to effect bending of the wiresabout the pins of that particular row. As the rotation of the roller 89conthe opposite direction to bend the wires about Y the succeeding rowsof pins.

The wires as they pass from between the rollers 09 and SI will havebendsformed thereon and will enter the angular slots on the carrier, tobe there-.

by carried beneath the roller electrodes. -In order is fed from a reelor reels The that'the angles A and B of adjacent strands may be broughtinto welding position with respect to gone another, alternate strandswill be given more slack between the rollers andthe carriage as shownmore clearly in Fig. 17, so that alternate strands will sag below theadjacent strands and the angle portions A and B of the strands willtherefore enter upon the conveyer in superposed or overlapping relationto pass beneath the roller electrodes in such position so that they willbe welded together and thus form a fabric structure as shown in Fig. 35.

Fig. 35 differs from Fig; 24, in that it has the bends of the variouswires in overlapping relation and welding may be effected at two points86a wherever the bends of the various strands come into overlyingrelation. In the structure of Fig. 24, the bends are brought into merelyabutting relation as indicated at 86b,instead of into overlappingrelation as in 35. The mesh of Fig. 24 will, of course, be flatter thanthat of Fig. 35, since all parts of the various strands lie in a commonplane.

If it is desired to incorporate stiffening strands.

and stay wires in the fabrics of Figs. 24 and 35, suchstrand and staywires may be fed to the machine of Fig. 16 in a manner similar to thatwhereby the additional strand and stay wires are fed as in Fig. 8.Inthat case, the diagonal strands 86 of Fig. 25 will be supplemented bystay wires 54 and straight strand wires 95.

Figs. 17a and 17b show a modification of the structures of Figs. 1, 2,4.8, 9, 10, 16 and 1'7, in that they disclose a transversecarriage-reciprocating transversely of the carrier. In this device acare iage 85a may be reciprocated transversely of the carrier 20a in amanner similar to the reciprocation of the carriage 35 of Fig. 1. .Oneor more carriages 35a may be used for making different fabrics. I

The travel of this reciprocation may be the full width of the carrier ora fraction thereof. When the travel of carriage 35a is a fraction of thewidth of the carrier fabrics similar to those of Figs. 24,

' and 28 may be produced-and where the travel is the full width fabricssimilar to those of Figs; 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 are produced.

One example of fabric made by short travel is v laid instead of thesingle strand 9! of Fig. 21.

shown in Fig. 170 in which each strand a is bent back and forth aboutthe lugs 29d, in overlapping or abutting relation so that they'may bewelded together at-points of contact as in Figs. 24 and 35.

In Fig. 21, I show a form of fabric which may be formed on the machineof Figs. 8 or 17a, if certain of the feed devices of Fig. 8 be omitted.In this form of device, strand wires 96 may be fed to the machine as arethe strand wires ofFig. 8, the

staywires 56 being omitted. Certain of the'feeding members may beomitted from the carriage 35. and the wires 9! fed through only one ofthe guide plane, while imparting relative traveling movedevices of thecarriage.

In order that-the wire 91 will be disposed mainly at right angles to thewires 96, the depositing carriage 35 can be shifted longitudinally ofthe moving table simultaneously with its movement across the table, theconveyer 20 may be given only an intermittent movement, it being heldstationary during transverse travel of the carriage 35 and permitted tomove only at the end of each transverse movement of such carrier. Therate and amplitude of movement of the carrier at each step willdetermine the spacing between the transversely-extending portions of-thewires 91 and the bends at the edges of the fabric may be. 2 givenvarlousforms through the employment of guide blocks or bosses of variousshapes, such bosses corresponding to the bosses 29a of Fig. 4.

Not only will the relative rates of movement as between the carrier andthe carriages for depositing the wires determine the spacing in the InFig. 22, I show a fabric which may be made substantially in the mannerdescribed in connection with the fabric of Fig. 21, in that a singlestrand of wire 91a is fed transversely of the strand wires 96, but withthe conveyer continuously moving.

In Fig. 23, the mesh is formed as at Fig. 22, but with two transversestrands 91b supplied to the machine.- A

In Fig. 28, I show a structure constituting a modification of that shownin Fig. 23. In this structure there is a bent strand I08 at each edge ofthe fabric, welded to longitudinal strands III! and H0. Intermediatebent strands lll'and III are also welded at theirbends to the strands H0and to intermediate strands 3.

Figs. 29, 30 and 31 show structures wherein certain of the strands arebent and laid with inlaid-in a manner similar to the laying ofthestrands .91 of Fig. 21, and the lower ends of these.

bent strands can be sheared off after completion of the fabric to leavea smooth bottom edge instead of the scroll bottom edge of Fig. 29. In

this form of mesh, there .are two central strands H9 and I20, each bentthrough 180 alternately in opposite directions, and welded to certain ofthe other wires.

In. Fig. 31, there are three strands l2l bent and I claim as myinvention:

1. The method which comprises laying wires by a reciprocatory movementin a given plane,

bending said wires around supports at the ends of the paths of travel indirections parallel to said plane, and uniting the wires thus laid toform a fabric.

2. The method which comprises laying wires by a reciprocatory movementin a given plane, bending said wires around supports at the ends of thepaths of travel in directions parallel to said ment to said supports andthe wires in a direction generally transverse to the paths ofreciprocatory movement, and uniting the wires thus laid, to form afabric.

- 3. The method which comprises depositing wire strands on a supportingsurface, laying continuous wires thereonv in directions generallytransverse to said strands, the continuous wires being bent indirections parallel to the plane of said surface, and securing thefirst-named strands to said continuous strands.

' 4. The method of forming wire fabric which comprises depositingstrands of wire upon a supporting surface by reciprocatory movement in asingle plane, transversely of the said surface, simmultaneously causingrelative traveling movement of the deposited portions of the strands andthose portions thereof which are being deposited,

and uniting the strands to form a unitary struc- 1 ture.

5. The method of forming wire fabric which comprises depositing strandsof 'wire upon'a supporting surface by reciprocatory movement in a singleplane, transversely of the said surface, simultaneously causing relativetraveling movement of the deposited portions of the strands and thoseportions thereof which are beingdeposited, the relative rates ofreciprocatory and traveling movements being varied in accordance withthe pattern desired, and uniting the'strands to form a unitarystructure.

6. The method of forming wire comprises depositing strands of wire uponasupporting surface by reciprocatory movement in a single plane,transversely of said surface, simultaneously causing relative travelingmovement of the deposited portions of the strands and thoseportionsthereof which are being deposited, the saidtraveling movement being atsuch rate that those portions of the wires deposited in one direction ofreciprocatory movement will be at least partially overlapped by thoseportions of the, the other direction of recipro certain depositedstrands having contact with wires deposited in catory movement, anduniting the strands to form a unitary structure. I

'7. The method which comprises depositing, simultaneously, one layer ofcontinuous strands of wire in one direction, and then changing thedirection of laying to deposit a second layer of the same wires upon thefirst layer acrossthe width of the fabric, and uniting their points ofcontact.

8. The method of forming sheets of wire fabric which comprises advancingwire strands by traveling movement, simultaneously bending at least someof the strands transversely of the path of I travel, in a given planeand through a distance and then another layer thereof, at

substantially equal to the width of the fabric, and securing the strandstogether;

9. The method of forming sheets of wire fabric which comprises advancingwire strands by traveling movement, simultaneously bending some of thewires transversely .of the path of travel, over a portion of the widthof' the completed fabric, bending other strands transversely of the pathof travel over only another portion of the width of the fabric, andsecuring the two groups of strands together. 7

10. The method of forming wire fabric, consisting of [continuouslyplacing one layer of wires v a different angle and crossing the firstlayer, welding the layers together at their points of crossing, then.

placing a successive layer of wire thereon and welding the successivelayer to the existing welded layers. 11. The method of forming wirefabric consisting of laying one series of wirescontinuously upon amovingtable back and forth from one edge of the fabric to the other, ina given plane, the elapsed time of laying movements being such that thespacing will be equal for all wires in the entire fabric that are laidin the same direction.

12. The method of forming wire fabrics consisting of laying two separateseries of wires continuously upon a moving table from one side to theother and return, in a given plane in such elapsed time that both seriesfit into the fabric in such manner that all wires in the entire fabricfabric which with other strands, and uniting strands at a rate dependent.upon the desired pattern, and welding the longitudinal strands to theother strands.

14. Themethod of making welded wire fabric,

which comprises advancing a series of wires along a supporting surface,simultaneously bending and positioning other wires in abuttingengagement with the first-named wires, and welding the two series ofwires together.

15. The method of. forming wire fabric which comprises depositingstrands of wire upon one side of a traveling supporting surface by Ireciprocatorymovement transversely of the said surface, with certaindeposited. strands having contact the strands at their points ofcontact, to form a unitary structure.

16. The method of forming wire fabric which comprises depositing strandsof wire upon a traveling supporting surface by reciprocatory movementtransversely of the said .surface with tain of the strands being laidacross the fabric for a distance less-than the full width of the fabric.

17. The method which comprises depositing a continuous wire strand on atable by movement thereof through a path that is perpendicular to thetable and thence through paths disposed in parallelism with the table,and securing together those portions of the wire which are located inthe last-named paths.

18. The method which comprises depositing a continuous wire strand on atable by movement thereof through a path that is perpendicular to thetable and thence through paths disposed in parallelism with the table,and securing together those portions of the wire which are located "inthe last-named paths, the wire while passing said supports.

' 20. The method which comprises laying contin-,

uous wires transversely of a table in both directions, bending saidwires in directions parallel to the plane of the table, at pointsadjacent to the edges of the table, maintaining said bendsin flatwiseposition, uniting the wires to form a unitary structure, and releasingsaid bends.

21. The method of forming fabric which comprises folding a set oflaterally-spaced strands simultaneously back and forth along diagonallines, to form layers of the strands, with each layer partiallyoverlying another layer, and securing the layers together.

22. The method of forming fabric which comprises depositing one layer ofcontinuous strands simultaneously,

in one direction, continuing the depositing movement in anotherdirection to form another layer partially overlying the first-namedlayer, and securing the strands together in unitary relation.

23. The method of forming fabric which comprises depositing one layer ofcontinuous strands simultaneously, in one direction, continuing thedepositing movement in another direction to form another layer partiallyoverlying the first-named layer, and securing the strands together inunitary relation at points where they cross one another.

24. The method of forming fabric structures which comprises placinglaterally-spaced'wires upon asupporting surface by laying them inoppositely-extending diagonal lines and bending them in directionsparallel to the plane of said surface, similarly bending and laying asecond series of wires, certain of the wires extending only partiallyacross the width of the fabric, and securing the various wires togetherin unitary relation.

25. The method of making wire fabric, which comprises-placing one. layerof continuous wires, bending the said wires to form a layer partiallyoverlying the first layer, then placing on said layera a second seriesof wires bent to form similar layers, but with the wires of each seriesoffset relative to the wires of the other series, in directionslongitudinally of the fabric, and seeming the various wires into unitaryrelation.

